Nearshore hiring has usually been associated with larger companies moving whole teams or business functions closer to the U.S. That is starting to change.
Recent data from Nearshore Americas found that more than half of nearshore outsourcing placements in the first half of 2026 went to companies with 50 or fewer employees. Companies with 26 to 50 employees saw the biggest jump, with placements growing more than 70% year over year. The roles are changing too. Along with sales and technology, smaller companies are hiring accounting and finance professionals as they grow.
We’ve been seeing this same shift at The Functionary for a while, especially in finance and accounting. The cost of hiring is part of the reason, but for smaller companies there is another issue. They often need the work of a larger finance team before they are ready to build one.
A single finance hire only solves part of the problem
A growing company may need help with accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, reconciliations, reporting, or day-to-day accounting. Hiring one person can add capacity, but that person still needs management, backup coverage, training, systems support, and access to more experienced finance people when something falls outside their role.
That gets expensive quickly if a company tries to build all of it internally. The finance talent market is also tight. Robert Half reports that 61% of finance and accounting leaders say finding skilled professionals is harder than it was a year ago. At the same time, 63% plan to increase contract hiring during the second half of 2026.
For a smaller company, the challenge becomes bigger than filling an open job. They need enough structure around that person for the work to run well.
The nearshore model can provide the team around the hire
A nearshore pod lets the company build around the work it has today and add capacity or expertise as the business changes. Instead of simply placing an accountant in another country, companies can leverage a finance pod where team members work directly as part of the customer team but get the additional management and support supplied by the outsourcing partner.
At The Functionary, the employee can be dedicated to one customer and work inside that company’s systems and processes. Behind that person sits recruiting, HR, operational support, professional leadership, and access to additional finance experience when it’s needed.
That changes the economics of the decision. A 40-person company may not be ready to hire a controller, accounting manager, senior accountant, payroll specialist, and AP or AR staff. But they may still need pieces of all those capabilities.
Finance is a good fit for nearshore because the work happens during the business day
Time-zone alignment also becomes more important as the work gets closer to the day-to-day operation of the company. Finance teams are answering questions from employees, working with vendors, resolving billing issues, following up on receivables, supporting leadership, and dealing with issues that cannot always wait until the next day.
Nearshore teams in Latin America can work during U.S. business hours, which makes it easier for them to operate as part of the internal team instead of functioning as a separate back-office group. That is one reason finance and accounting nearshore hiring is getting more attention. Grant Thornton and Auxis reported in 2026 that more than 40% of midmarket companies are turning to Latin America as they rethink finance, accounting, HR, IT, customer support, and other back-office functions.
This trend goes beyond finance
Finance makes the model easy to see, but the same issue exists in other parts of a growing business. Companies reach a point where they need more customer support, sales support, IT, HR, project coordination, or back-office capacity. They need the work done every day, but they may not need enough of any one function to justify building a full department around it.
That is changing the role of nearshore hiring partners. The decision is becoming less about moving a job somewhere less expensive and more about extending an operating team without taking on all the fixed cost and management structure that comes with building it internally. For smaller companies, flexibility is particularly useful. They can start with the roles they need now, keep those people closely connected to their U.S. team, and add skills or capacity as the business grows.
Smaller companies need support without adding another layer to manage
There is still an important difference between hiring a lower cost remote worker and a nearshore operating model. Simply finding lower-cost talent can leave a small company with another employee to recruit, onboard, manage, and support. That may reduce salary expense, but it does not solve the larger capacity issue.
A cheaper hire gives you another person to manage. A nearshore operating model gives you the team around the person.
The better model gives the company dedicated people along with the structure around them. Recruiting, management support, process discipline, backup capacity, and ongoing development are part of the service rather than additional jobs the company has to take on itself.
That is particularly valuable for companies in the 25 to 50 employee range highlighted in the Nearshore Americas data. They are large enough to need more specialized support, but still small enough that every additional management hire has a meaningful impact on overhead. Nearshore gives these companies another way to build those capabilities. They can add the finance, operations, support, or technical capacity they need now while keeping the team closely connected to how the business operates.
As more small companies use the model, nearshore will continue to look less like a strategy reserved for large enterprises and more like a practical way to build a growing business. Whatever your size, The Functionary focuses on finding the solution that is the right fit for your business. Many of our engagements start with one person supporting a function like finance, then expand as the customer grows and needs change.